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Curated by Ranjit Hoskote & Nancy Adajania
Colour: A Brief History
Colour has perpetually been the most contentious topic in the history of art. It is volatile, political and uncertain. One such instance that exemplifies, ‘Chromophillia’, or a suspicion of color, that emerged in the west in the 1800’s, in response to the emergence of bright colors of the East- that seemed immaterial and irrational, but yet deeply pleasurable and decadent. Color weaves this show together. It acts as both a mediator and a catalyst. Gobhai, armed with the knowledge of color psychology, uses color as a silent mode of communication, translating critical memories and clues within its placement and application.
A Retrospective
“The first time I met Mehlli Gobhai it was love at first sight. He was a stunner! I knew the charmer Mehlli before I knew the artist Mehlli. But once I began to know the artist, studio visits were frequent. Mehlli taught me how to look at abstraction just by they encounters I had with his paintings. When in his studio it was him and the work and he spoke about nothing else- going back to the painting, touching the surface, shifting the position of the thread that ran through it...undecided till he was decided. That was Mehlli, he was made of so much - precision yet undecided, questioning yet sure, obsessive yet submitting."
- Shireen Gandhy
Decoding the Colour:
“Don’t Ask me About the Colour” is a visual trajectory of the path breaking abstractionist, Mehilli Gobhai's art with an exquisite display of over 200 exhibits that adorn the walls across 6 floors at National Gallery of Modern Art. Curated by the dynamic duo- Ranjit Hoskote and Nancy Adajania, this show bears witness of seven decades of Gobhai’s art.
“The title of this retrospective is a play on words for something Reinhardt wrote. Mehlli always said he hated colors, and wanted to submerge in it and brutalize the canvas. But the fact is that the initial layers of his paintings were always pinks and blues, and then he would build over and the shadows would gather, and he'd layer them over and over again till it he reached the finished patina. There was a sense of austerity in his art, a spiritual experience. He always saw color as a seduction, and felt a lot of painters got carried away with color."
- Hoskote
His retrospective includes his early self-assured drawings during his teenage years as well as the compelling paintings, he created when in a continuous period of productivity from 1985 to 2011. Gobhai’s transmedial artistry epitomizes fresh poly chrome paintings, transitioning from figurative and representational style to abstraction. These also encompass the experimental paintings, he made using graphite and aluminum powder during his New York years. On display are also, the never seen before, masterly life studies, his work in dry pastels and his forays into print-making, and the children’s books that he wrote and illustrated, a number of them inspired by Indian folklore.
This show also portrays Gobhai as a participant in culture at large, as connoisseur, enthusiast, occasional writer, designer, and collector – aspects of his life that were invisible to his art-world viewers. Gobhai was, for many years, an advertising professional, working as art director with the multinational agency, J Walter Thompson. This show includes a section exhibiting his work in advertising, as well as posters and brochures he designed for Ebrahim Alkazi’s Theatre Group. His varied extra-painterly commitments included theatre (he trained as an actor with Alkazi), music (an interest inherited from his mother, who was devoted to classical Western music, and which he pursued as a votary of the Hindustani and Carnatic traditions), dance (he savored Bharatanatyam), and folk culture (he enjoyed collecting textiles, especially shawls and rugs, which formed an integral part of the distinctive domestic environments he created around himself in Mumbai, New York, and Gholvad, his rural retreat north of Mumbai).
‘Don’t Ask Me About Colour’ contextualizes Mehlli Gobhai’s art through a judicious selection of exhibits from his private collection, which embraced traditional objects of everyday life as well as craft in metal, wood and cloth, and works by young artists whose cause he championed.
The artist painted with a feeling of uncertainty, solely relying on his creative bent of mind.
The only certainty was the mystery that unraveled from each layer of paint, that added a certain depth and meaning to his artworks.
Untitled (Mixed Media on Canvas- late 1970s)
Great artists such as Husain, Raza and Tyeb Mehta have been highly celebrated in the South Asian Art market for their abstractive take on form and materiality. Finally, Gobhai's unique art will also be recalled in the history of Indian Art Abstraction amidst these masters' names.
This treasure trove of collection leaves the viewers in a state of ecstasy. Ironically, the title conveys a state of rejection, but the show eventually leaves the viewers enraptured in these polychromic paintings.
Image Courtesy : Chemould Prescott Road
On display at National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai
6th March - 25th April, 2020
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